Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 11 (2009): The Horse and Man in European Antiquity (Worldview, Burial Rites, and Military and Everyday Life), pp. 242–253
Abstract
This article analyses symbolic horse burial rites in the East Lithuanian Barrow Culture of the tenth–eleventh centuries. Single imitative inhumations and cremations are the dominant forms of horse cenotaphs. A variety of group imitative burial forms also was practiced. Funerary rites for symbolic and actual horses were coexistent, and no chronological or spatial differences between them are observed. Grave goods in burials of symbolic horses indicate lower status. Imitative burials of horses were carried out by those who had no resources for the sacrifice of the animal itself as a grave good. The social implications of horse burials or symbolic burials gained substantiality along with growing military activity and social stratification.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 11 (2009): The Horse and Man in European Antiquity (Worldview, Burial Rites, and Military and Everyday Life), pp. 185–205
Abstract
According to the data of 2008, eight horsemen buried in grave pits with complete horse skeletons had been discovered in only four of the East Lithuanian barrow cemeteries of the second half of the fifth century. The majority of these graves already were pillaged in antiquity. The barrows with graves of men interred with horses are concentrated in a small territory between Lakes Tauragnas, Žeimenis, and Vajuonis, in an area that does not exceed 50-60 sq. km. Particularly rich burials with silver and silver artefacts, most of which originated in the middle Danube and Carpathian Basin, are found in this small region. Such burials are associated with supreme rulers and high ranking military leaders. Burials of well, but standardly armed, horsemen and infantrymen also are found in the region. They can be associated with the retinue of supreme rulers. Current data suggest that while multi-ethnic groups of people reached the East Lithuanian micro-region between Lakes Tauragnas, Žeimenis, and Vajuonis during the Migration Period, the newcomers vanished from the local population over the course of four generations. This small region’s concentration of great wealth and military power, along with marked differences in social structure emphasized even in the structure of the barrow cemeteries, would suggest that a form of government identical to that of a chiefdom had been created in the region.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 8 (2007): Weapons, Weaponry and Man (In memoriam Vytautas Kazakevičius), pp. 292–301
Abstract
The paper analyses symbolic warrior burials found in East Lithuanian barrows dated to the Iron Age. The discussed graves contain mainly weapons, without any human remains. Judging from the grave assemblages and the shapes of the weapons, it is supposed that higher-status individuals used to be buried symbolically more frequently. Stressing the male gender and the warrior status was the primary task when performing a symbolic burial.